"And in those simple beautiful movements I remembered what was really important in training; that consistency trumps intensity; all the time. That intensity is born from consistency. That one cannot force it, one has to lay in wait for it, patiently, instinctively, calmly and be ready to grab it when Grace lays it down in front of you."

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Solid work day. Must have accumulated an hour or more in squat position today during my 7 hours of work. All different kinds, against the stability ball, free with no support and supported in the power rack. these are getting better all the time( deeper). Loving it!

Good stretchout upper body as well this am. shoulder is feeling really good.

this went great! went back to old press form really emphasizing the lats in the launch and -here's what I discovered today- KEEPING them engaged the press all the way to to lockout- prevents the dreaded spin out! Had a rep spin out on me and realized while I had initiated the press with the lat I let it go during the press and bingo- spin out. Corrected it on the next rep and it was fine.

Monday, January 27, 2014

Interesting day. Slept well, ate well, got a fantastic leg stretchout this am( which they needed as they were still tight from the weekend) got the deepest flexion in the left knee yet during my squat sequence. But when it came to the workout it was, well, uninspired.

I crashed a bit from my last client and just got through the workout but there was no 'umph'. Then I realized I was feeling a bit of adrenaline let down from the weekend as well. No worries, this was just building more base, getting it done.
Glenn is out of town so I was solo today too.

thought about going for 130-140 reps but my head just wasn't into it and I decided not to push it

Split squats ( bw)
1 x 13, 10, 8, 6, 6

did these much slower than last week, emphasizing the bottom position more and longer and locked out at the top and this resulted in lower reps. No problem just a different type of stimulation

Backward- forward crawls
4 laps of 30 feet backward followed by the same forward

these kicked my ass as usual. Kind of 'repped out' after this weekend and I just let it go at four laps.

Hangs
4 sets of 15-30 seconds

these are getting better and easier all the time

took my nap only to be woken up by the UPS guy with our 68 kg Monster bell that is pictured above. Just getting it out of the package was a task nevermind duckwalking it the 30 feet into the gym,lol.I had to actually 'deadlift' the thing instead of just picking it up. Not light at all .
But what a beauty. Joe will probably swing it one arm but I'll settle for two hand swings and be very happy if it doesn't kill me

Sunday, January 26, 2014

OK now I'm tired :) Yesterday's training was quick and dirty but I sure felt it this morning. Not tweaked or sore just TIRED. And getting my butt out of the house into the walk took a little longer than usual. Just moving slowly.

And the walk seemed slow too, although it wasn't by the clock. The first 4 laps were the usual 7.5-8 minutes per laps but then they got FASTER, even though they felt slower and the lap time dropped to about 7 minutes or so. Very weird. Warmer today too, no long sleeves needed , just a vest and the hat and gloves came off after a few laps.

I've gotten used to walking in the cold so it will be very different come the summer and the heat. I'll adapt but it will be very different indeed.
Feet were sore and legs just felt heavy.

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Inspired by the fact that I did not die doing the 16 kg snatch test a few weeks ago I thought instead of trying that with the 20 kg for my birthday challenge next month I would do the swing test from Pavel's new book Simple and Sinister .
The "Simple" version is 32 kg for 100 reps and the "Sinister" one done with the 48 kg. I wasn't sure I could do it with the 32 kg but I thought I should try today as that would leave me 5 weeks to go for the birthday challenge. I know I couldn't make it with the 48 but perhaps the 40 kg might go.

So with Glenn and Nick out of town that just let me and Joe and when I told him of my plans he said he would join in. Excellent. Misery does indeed love company. :)

I got pretty nervous about this though, last night after I committed to it with Joe. Things are going so well I definitely did not want to tweak anything. Not even a hamstring. I thought about cancelling it but then realized if I only got 80 that would be fine as well. Just a test to establish a baseline. Shouldn't be a problem and it wasn't.

At first I thought I would do 5 sets of 10/10 as last week I managed that easily for 160 total reps in my regular workout but then I realized that doing 10 sets of 5/5 would be smarter. I would be easier on my grip, on my lungs and on my back.

AND it would allow me to focus on doing the short work bouts in true Hardstyle instead of just holding on and trying deal with grip and wind issues as the time clicked by. Once I settled in on that strategy I relaxed. I knew I could do easy sets of 5/5 even with short breaks.

So, game on :)

Easy warmup this morning; adrenaline gets the muscle loosey and juicy faster than anything.Just had to maintain and not get too psyched too early. That gets the heartrate up fast and I certainly did not need that for this test. Calm and focused it was

this was the perfect move and sets/ reps for after all those fast reps. Re prime the strength!

Forward Crawls
4 rounds of 50 feet.

Love these. always make me work. Just like the swing. Swings and crawls- MY program minimum. Nothing builds work capacity faster or more safely than these two movements. And for my money, work capacity RULES as functional training for real life.

Rope triceps extensions/ Hangs
4 x 15-10 / 15 -20 seconds

these worked great. Ever since switching to sleeping the other side of the bed and letting my right arm and shoulder lay flat all night my shoulder feels 100% better. That was a simple fix. my favorite thing: simple fixes that actually work and last.

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

A very good day. Goes to show you that you don't have to sleep well to train well :) I didn't sleep that badly, just woke up way too many times. But after two cups of Philz coffee I was good to go. Warm day today so I skipped the passive bath warmup and got to work. Wasn't going to press but my shoulder was feeling great and I wanted to see if my old technique in long cycle would work. It's definitely not a "strict" press by any means but if I can use a slight chest heave to bypass the first part of the delt and not get pain I'll do it!

Swing warmup
16 kg x 5/5/5 x 3

Long cycle clean and press
16 kg x 5/5 x 2
20 kg x 3/3 x 2
24 kg x 3/3
x 4/4
x 5/5
x 3/3 x 3
42 total reps and they actually felt good :) we'll see tomorrow. I changed the side of the bed I sleep on which now allows my right arm and shoulder to lay totally flat all night. I think this might be a game changer for the shoulder .

Goblet squats
16 kg x 2 x 2
20 kg x 2 x 2

these felt GREAT! Since I spend so much time basically doing goblet squats all day at work while I coach my clients I thought this might go well and it did! Much better than expected and the video above is the first set. Each set after got better with the 20 kg ones the best. This is giving me mucho confidence that my goal of a true ass to grass squat can be accomplished.

Sled drags
80 lbs x 250 feet x 4 laps

haven't done these in a few weeks and I could tell. Good solid leg work/

Monday, January 20, 2014

Good day today,not enough stretchout time this morning but also not wrecked by yesterdays ruck walk or saturdays training combined with the weighted walk.

all the parts were in place today although energy was just fair. That was an effect of two hard training days in a row. But sustainable strength is more important now than any peak so I just adjusted. Hoped to do 5 sets of 10/10 with the 20 kg and that's just what happened. and not that hard either.

Not hard at all and I think the key was that I intentionally DID NOT power breathe at all. In fact, I didn't try to purposely breathe at all during the sets, Just used as little breath power as necessary. Lowered my HR during each set considerably and made my cardio 20+% better instantly :)

Since biomechanical match breathing increases pressure( which increases tension which IS strength) I only need to use as much as necessary for the load during longer sets and or reps. I finally have the back stability NOT to need max intra abdominal pressure for even light weights and or low reps. This is a great thing and really shows improvement in my back health.

Trying to really HS breathe during high rep sets or timed tests makes it so much harder as to be near impossible!
Now I feel better about the snatch test.
Breathing and snatching this way will increase endurance but not as much strength and power. On my 3 sets of 5/5 I used biomechanical match and really increased the force output. Much different indeed.

Split squats ( video above)
4 sets of 12 /12

these are really coming along although I definitely felt the fatigue in the legs from the last two days AND the weighted squat stretches I did for eight sets yesterday during the walk.But if I want legs that never quit this is the route.

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Perhaps next time I add books to the pack I should weigh it first :) Last week's pack was barely 20 lbs. I thought it would be 21 or 22 today but I guess the books weighed heavy and it ended up at 24.6 lbs.That ain't light for me,lol and I felt it from the start.
Started out in the dark this morning as I had to get back earlier to help Tracy with her GS sets and it was different walking the first 30 minutes in the dark. Not bad at all just different.It was 37 degrees at the start and the legs felt heavy from yesterdays work.
As per usual they didn't loosen up til around lap 4 but then they really got nice and comfy. I did my static squat stretches each lap from the first as opposed to waiting til the fourth lap as I did last week. It helped open the legs up a little faster plus I got 4 more sets in

Total time 1 hour 25 minutes.8 laps plus to and from park.

Not bad for a guy four months ago that couldn't walk two blocks without pain. Very happy with this.Going to leave the pack weight alone for at least 2-3 hikes as this is plenty for right now.

Tracy and I decided we are going to plan a Grand Canyon hike sometime next year! Now this will be epic! After that- Machu Picu! This latest re incarnation as a hiker is something I've wanted to do for years and now it's happening. Awesome. Love the ruck :)

Saturday, January 18, 2014

Woke up feeling better than the last few days, as my right shoulder has been really forward since wednesdays workout. I think it was the get up on the right side but it could have also been the snatches as well. When my forearms get super tight they tend to pull the elbow and then the shoulder out of alignment and all those fast reps got my grip going JUST a bit ,lol.

Tis the problem with having strong muscles and loose ligaments and capsules,lol , but that's my body and I don't( can't) give up too much more strength :)

Got it stretched out but it took longer than I wanted. Going to take out the curls for awhile too as they were put in to help the shoulder with more supination and external rotation. Let's sub them out for awhile and see what happens. Want to keep the right side getup in there for now.

But everything else felt good. Weight is a solid 159 lbs and I feel lean.
30 minute stretchout focus on the shoulder and hamstrings.

One arm swings
16 kg x 5/5/5 x 3
20 kg x 5/5
24 kg x 5/5
28 kg x 5/5

32 kg x 8/8 x 8 sets
x 16/16
160 reps
11,200 lbs nice.

two hand swings
32 kg x 10
40 kg x 10
44 kg x 10
48 kg x 10

Man! my abs were working hard. So glad my back can take it these days. Wasn't always like this and I'm grateful for the improvement

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Day five of daily crawling and shoulders feel very good. Of course I haven't pressed lately but that's ok. I've been crawling with at least two clients per workday and it feels right.
Started out with getups today and actually worked up to the bridge on the last few sets. this is really coming along although the elbow lever cue only worked so well.
The best reps came when I stopped thinking and just made the movement by feel.My rolling patterns are getting better and that's helping this as well I think some "get downs' are in my future as well

this is definitely a practice session but it feel surprisingly good on everything. what a difference squaring my lower body up has made!

Snatch test
I had this in my head for today and decided to go for it. I set of 2/2 for a warmup and then just went for it. It's only 16 kg for G-d's sake :) I had Glenn tape the set but I didn't actually think I'd make 100 reps. Very surprised.
Went through 60 reps then parked it. Another 20 and parked it again. Not that bad. Definitely can do this with the 20 kg

And I know the first 30 + reps overhead position are even worse than usual but I was not caring about that all as I didn't know I'd survive the five minutes,lol. It took me 60 reps to warmup and then the overhead position actually got better. Just like the heavier bells get my arm back further than the light bells and early sets.

I also used anatomical breathing for the first time ( lets see if my back holds up tomorrow) during the last 30 reps or so and did NOT use power breathing at all at the start of the set. Just a single breath at the top but very relaxed and casual. Did not want to over elevate my HR early and the light weight didn't require it anyway.

16 kg
10/10/10/10/10/10
Park
10/10
park
10/10 = 100 reps
4:24

this gave me a lot of confidence. probably do it again next week then go to the 18 kg the week after. And work on my overhead position in the early reps. Very impressed with my cardio conditioning, actually given what I've been doing nothing over 10 reps/set :)

Crawling
4 rounds of
40-50 feet forward/ 20 feet backward.

day five.

cable curls
4 x 10,8,8,8
Rope extensions
4 x 12- 15
YES, this is the perfect tricep exercise for me now.Gets the long head directly AND puts my shoulder into a great stretch. Love it.

Monday, January 13, 2014

Didn't even realize it until after it was over but this was my third very tough workout in a row. Sunday's has changed dramatically; from a gentle rehab walk to a 1.5 hour hike with a weighted pack. Most excellent for sure but it definitely has an impact on my snatches on Monday. Such as today.
My performance was great but I could feel the overall fatigue in my back. Not in a dangerous way but one that let me know I've been doing some serious work.

I had a solid stretchout this morning and included my squat hold series and it was not easy at all, definitely feeling my legs after yesterdays hike

Hold for time supported squat
close stance
medium stance
wide stance
close lunge both legs
cossack side stretch
stair stretch = one round

repeat three times. THIS is what is really making the difference in my knee ROM as well as greasing the groove for the 5-7 hours I am at the studio, constantly squatting down with the stability ball and holding the bottom position for 20-90 seconds as the client swings :) I vary the stance all the time and do this probably 5-7 times per hour for 5-7 hours a day!

haven't done THIS workout in a LONG time! Since Sept of 2012 I think! and it wasn't that bad at all . Not happy with my left side elbow lock but it seems to be a choice between one of the arms not locking out right and now it's back to the left. Still more work to do :)

Split Squat/ BW
10/10 x 4 sets

these went great! definitely the right choice for exercise. Plus I was getting way below parallel with the left leg forward. This is the new exercise for my leg size and ROM. Work up to sets of 20/20 and then add weight. Perhaps a backpack instead of holding weight.

backwards/forward crawls

four rounds of 30/30 feet. VERY tough at this point but shoulders feel great

Hangs
four sets of 20 seconds. The right thing to do to open up the lats shoulders and back

super happy with the last three days. and how great I feel right now, hours later, as I write this.

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Pr day. Added two lbs to the ruck making it an even twenty pounds and bumped the walk up by one lap getting it two eight. Total time walking was one hour twenty five minutes. Not slower given the extra weight; each lap was between seven and eight minutes long.

Felt very strong and hit the road with no stretching or warmup. Much warmer today and didn't need hat, gloves or vest.

First four laps were continuous and then at the completion of the each of the next four I added in squat stretches for 1-2 minutes. Wanted the legs to get a bit fatigued before I stretched them as that helps kill the stretch reflex and get me deeper faster. Worked well.

After the walk I alternated hanging for 15 seconds with backwards crawls for 30 feet then reversing it for the same distance with forward crawls. Very tired but the crawling seemed to loosen things up. Shoulder (r) was tight going to sleep but opened up nicely this morning and even more so on the walk.

Four laps of crawling and four sets of hangs.

datsit. 24 kg snatches tomorrow. got to get ready :)

The Croatian Stair Challenge Part 2. I will be ready

ps oh yea, it's so weird as I forget that I have an artificial knee joint ,lol. I love my new knee, it works like a champ!

Saturday, January 11, 2014

A very solid one. All the pieces were together this morning, plus, it was just the 24 kg so there was no fear factor. Of course that's when you have to be extra careful. Really. It's the light weights that usually get you hurt because you don't concentrate enough or get cocky. But the stretchout went well as did the warmups

the last set of 20/20 was not that bad at all. just the lungs said anything but I kept the power output high , as well as the bell height, for the entire set.

Two kb swing
2 20 kg x 6
2 24 kg x 6
2 28 kg x 6
2 24 kg x 6 x 2 sets

these felt good once I got the groove back a bit. til then I was catching my inner thighs with the hands on the upswing. haven't done any of these since the TKR. Definitely stronger the weights were no problem. going to alternate these with the two hand swings each week,probably just doing a straight half pyramid with weight working up to 1-2 top sets and perhaps a down set.

after all the swing volume in the one arms I don't need much more :)

barbell curls
45 x 8
55 x 6
65 x 4, 5
55 x 8

Crawls- backward then forward
alternated these sets with the barbell curls
crawled backward 30 feet or so then went forward the same distance
4 sets. Geoff Neupert has challenged me to just crawl everyday for a week and I won't drop everything else but I will crawl each day AND focus on backwards crawling as well. No problem I like to crawl :)

Wednesday, January 08, 2014

Yup I actually started back on getups, which I really haven't practiced much since my cert in '05. Since my knee wouldn't allow me to do them on the right arm and my left shoulder didn't need any extra work( it WAS my stronger side for most of the last 8 years) I just didn't do them outside of demos for student and certs.

But now that my knee will allow both sides and both shoulders desperately need something to restore my overhead position I thought now was a good time to re instate getups. Just the start at first please as this is the toughest part for me and the one that will translate the best for my shoulders right now.

7 am
45 minute full stretchout with emphasis on my legs. Since I increased my knee ROM 10 degrees since last visit ( 120 degrees!!!) I am really motivated to push hard and get the next ten.

rollout and basic stretches: brettzel, up and down dog, straddle sit stretch and behind the neck stick disloates.
onto

close, medium and wide stance squat holds: these really felt like they dropped down tons.
close stance lunges
cossack side stretches
box lunge stretch( tried these on a stair ala Mason's suggestion but the box with stick for support worked much better.)

three to four rounds of these. legs felt great and depth really getting down there!
Pullup bar hangs and mixed grip stretches

Monday, January 06, 2014

Third hard training day in a row I realized today as I saddled up to do some snatches. My light recovery walk has turned into a weighted hike and that's more than cool but it's a workout in it's own right now and that has an impact on monday's training

No worries but I could tell I didn't have a full rest and recovery day yesterday. Surprisingly things went very strongly today.

overhead position was much better and easier and the groove has settle back in again. I don't have to think so much on each rep, just do as I've been doing. I hate having to problem solve and try to train at the same time. Lower back felt perfect and no excess strain on any muscle or joint for a change. Nice :)cardio was good to and the bell felt light. 22 is just a touch away from 24 and it's good to know I can do this workload with it.Need to get the volume up now that the groove has returned
For 20 kg : 150 total reps
22 kg : 130
24 kg : 110-120

at least for now :)

Belt squat

36 kg x 35 reps x 3 sets

this felt deeper than it looks on video but the bell is moving at least one foot and my knees are going forward well.I did these non lockout and it's a hellacious quad burn, just what I want. 35 reps is no joke.

Sunday, January 05, 2014

One of my goals in training is to be able to do more work than I have before and feel nothing from it the next day. Well, that's what happened yesterday and today and it's great! Big PR workout yesterday; hard one too; and woke up feeling like I didn't do anything heavy or hard at all!

In fact, nothing was achy or tight or jacked up at all! Can't remember when that happened last but I like it to continue.

Loaded up the pack to 8 kg and went into the cold,lol. Well cold for us :)
Maintaining the same pace, about 7.5-8 minutes per lap and did 7 laps plus then added another10 minutes to the get home loop for a whopping one hour and 25 minutes of weighted walking! Not bad at all if I say so myself.

After the fourth lap I started doing squat stretches at the end of each next lap and man, with my legs tired and the backpack on I got deeper than I expected pretty quickly. The stretch reflex just seemed to give out and let me drop down. Awesome. Plus the stretch really loosened up my legs for the next lap.

Had ideas to go a little further but my ankles started to get tired so I didn't push it anymore.I can remember VERY CLEARLY, how trying to walk from my house to the park, a grand total of two full blocks would kill me before. Now it's not even a beginning of a warmup. Unbelievably great stuff this new knee thingy.

Four sets of 30 seconds hang from the pullup bar afterwards and now it's time to roll out and stretchout. Have a bunch of 22 kg snatches to do tomorrow AND I have my Dr's appointment on Tuesday and I really hope I am at more than 110 degrees flexion. I think I do but I'm not sure. we'll see.

Saturday, January 04, 2014

This was seriously tough. Not so much that is was done in sets of 6/6 and 8/8 but that damn thing was heavy today and it's still frozen in the cave and that makes it much much tougher.Want to get to the Beast once per month but wasn't sure if today would go.It did but it took mucho concentration.

Slept well, stretchout was good, nothing hurt and no reason not to go but it was serious. As I like to say if you're bored it's not heavy enough and I was NOT bored, I was scared :)
Also there are a LOT of warmups to be done and doing them correctly takes some skill. not too much but definitely not too little. Especially in this cold.

Wednesday, January 01, 2014

I have an entirely different attitude now towards the press since I decided to limit myself to no heavier than the 24 kg for the near future at the very least. I have to get this groove 'grooved' and trying to do that while attempting heavy weights, even weights I think should NOT be heavy but now seem to be, just doesn't work.

And today proved it.The shoulders felt great after the snatches on Monday and all the shoulder flex and mobility work I've been doing and just using the 20 kg today gave me a lot of latitude to find the groove that might work.

I went back to where I learned the press, Pavel's original RKC video and started there. Getting my hip under the bell, turning to look at the bell as I pressed and really focusing on getting and keeping the lat engaged.Worked very well

Warmup
one arm swings
16 kg x 5/5/5 x 3

Press
16 kg x 5/5
20 kg x 5/5 x 8 sets

these went great!Used the mirror a bit to check overhead position but it really

Sled drag
80 lbs x 230 ft x 5 laps.

these felt way better than last week as well. Not snatching first probably doesn't hurt, either :)

Cable curls
4 x 10

Triceps pushdowns
4 x 10

trained just 4 clients so I got off early and got to my training right away as well. Love to be able to do this all the time but I'll take it when I can get it. Nice start to the new year. Hope is back for my press :)

datsit.
Never Quit.

the Original Girya, The Art of Strength window sign back in 2003.And an interesting press position if I say so myself :)